Charity seeks 5 year on Neets

Education and employment charity Impetus-PEF said it is “essential” that the government creates a five-year plan to help young people navigate their journey from school into further education, employment or training.

They are calling for:

greater emphasis on careers education in school as well as more co-ordinated and focused careers guidance post-education

school-to-work transitions to be improved by making schools responsible for the post-16 destinations of their pupils

government-funded apprenticeships to be better focused on young people with 2/3 reserved for under 25-year-olds by 2020

every Jobcentre Plus in England and Wales to employ specialist youth advisers to offer further support

LAs to be “incentivised” to make an impact (statistics show wide variation in success)

Daniela Barone Soares, chief executive of Impetus-PEF, said youth employment and training policy currently “falls between the cracks of different government departments. It is essential that the key ministers in this new cabinet work together to deliver a cross-departmental strategy to help disadvantaged school leavers to successfully move forward with their careers”.